


Stronger Than Iron

by Justaseck



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha trains Tony Stark, Tony becoming a badass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 01:09:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16692508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justaseck/pseuds/Justaseck
Summary: Tony has a lot of enemies. And can't really fight outside of his suit. But that's all about to change when Natasha agrees to train him.





	Stronger Than Iron

**Author's Note:**

> Leaving a comment would mean the world to me. Honestly. Please feed the author a comment or two. Every kudos is very much appreciated and makes my day. Thanks for reading!

Tony was trapped in a board meeting. Pepper had threatened to rain down nothing short of hellfire if he didn't show up. He would've rather been anywhere else but he since this was Pepper, who without her he'd have probably lost his entire company ordering him to go, he had donned one of his suits and even smiled at the receptionist on his way to the meeting. 

And now, 13 minutes in, he was thinking how much of a waste of time these things were. And was wondering how quickly Pepper would notice if he made a life model decoy to go to these meetings in his place. Surely he could get out of at least one with that method. A notification from Jarvis got his attention. An imminent threat to the tower. Someone was trying to hack into his security system. He abruptly stood up, pushing his chair back from the long conference table. "Excuse me, I've got an urgent matter to attend to. My apologies for skipping out early but I assure you I wouldn't unless necessary." He walked out of the room to the sound of token protests. 

He pulled an earpiece out of his pocket. "Jarvis? Call Pepper." A soft ring began moments later. He knew she would be furious when she heard he had left early. It was better if he got ahead of that train and explain before getting her all riled up. She answered with a "Tony? Is the meeting over already?"  
"No. Pep, listen, the Tower's security system is under attack. I'm headed there now to see what's going on. Have you heard anything from the other Avengers?"  
He could hear her sharp intake of breath. "No, I haven't. Do you need anything?"  
"Not just yet. I'll keep you posted."

He began pulling up security footage on his phone as he walked towards his office. An Iron Man suit was waiting for him there.  
"Alright, be careful Tony." And with that, the call was disconnected. Nothing obvious was showing up in the footage.  
He stepped into the Iron Man suit. "Alright, Jarvis. Let's go." The full bay window slid out. Tony powered his boot repulsors and was off. He landed on the roof of the tower. No visible attack was happening. As the suit was disassembled around him, he ran down to his workshop. "Talk to me J, what's going on?"  
-Sir, there is an ongoing cyber attack being launched.-  
"Are they making any progress?"

-I've managed to hold them off. Would you like to launch a counterattack?-

"Yes. See if you can find out who we're dealing with. Is anyone else under attack?"

-It doesn’t appear so. The information I’ve gathered so far points to a terrorist cell that mainly focuses on sharp, pointed cyber attacks on major businesses around the world. Their leader goes by Atahn Mensai.- 

“Shut down their attack, J.” He turned away from the screen.

-I’ve stopped all points of entry and no more attempts of invasion have occurred. I’ve also placed a trojan in their code to further deter their efforts.-

He paced in front of his desk. “Perfect. Compile all the information into a file.”

-Consider it done, Sir.- 

Tony nodded as he let out a long breath. He was tense, the attack raising his heartbeat and adrenaline was still flowing through him, even with no physical target to cause it. 

That’s why when a knock came at the door of the workshop, he immediately grabbed a screwdriver to act as a weapon. 

Jarvis interrupted that particular train of thought when he stated that Natasha was at the door. 

She walked in, immediately taking in his tense body language, and the way he was clutching the screwdriver in his hand as if it were a weapon. She scanned the lab for threats, finding none. “What’s got you so wound up, Stark? You look like you’re about to snap in half.”

Tony relaxed minutely. Just enough that it was barely noticeable to Natasha. “The Tower was just under attack.” He paused, searching her face. She was immediately back on high alert, once more scanning the lab, only stopping when she saw Tony run a hand across his face. “Jarvis took care of them but it came out of nowhere by an unidentified group. And it so rudely interrupted my board meeting.” He suddenly turned and threw the screwdriver at the wall. 

Natasha stood, unflinching as it clattered to the floor.  
“It’s always one thing or another! Why can’t people just think things through before getting all trigger happy and launching attacks? I don’t have enough hours in the day to deal with all this!” His voice was growing louder. 

“Breathe, Stark.” Natasha slowly took a step towards him. He was still wound up, his arms waving as he talked with his hands.  
“Come spar with me.” The words were out of her mouth before she had really thought them through, taking her by surprise. She hadn't really meant to offer that, but sparring with Clint or whoever was available calmed her in a way that few other things ever did. And Stark looked like he desperately needed to blow off some steam. 

Tony blinked at her, one arm still raised in defiance to the attackers who he couldn’t berate in person. “What?” he asked.

“Come spar with me.” Natasha repeated. “It always allows me to de-stress and if you don’t do something, you’re either going to keel over from high blood pressure or snap like a twig.”

He still had a baffled look on his face. A muscle twitched along his jaw line. “Fine. But don’t expect much. And don’t laugh when I fall on my face.” He strode towards the door. “I’ll meet you in the gym in five.”

Natasha was already there when he arrived four and a half minutes later. He had changed into a tighter fitting athletic shirt and a pair of sweatpants. A bottle of water was in his right hand, which he set on the bench. She could still sense the wired energy the cyber attack had brought upon the billionaire. A wary look was in his eyes as he joined her on the mats. 

Without a word, Natasha began circling him. He crouched into a ready position, keeping his body square with hers. She pounced, hooking one leg behind his and rolling her body weight across his, throwing him off balance and crashing to the floor. She quickly pinned his legs and trapped him in a position he couldn’t get out of. Holding him there for a few seconds, she released him and went back to her initial ready position. 

Tony pushed himself up off the mats with a growl. This time it was him who made the first move. He feinted left and then reached out to the right, trying to catch her arm to pin it. While his hand made contact, she used her shoulder to push him away from her. They both stayed on their feet, neither one managing to pull an advantage.

Twenty minutes later, sweat was now gathering at his temples. Natasha made eye contact and he only had time to think, “ _Oh this will hurt_ ,” before once more becoming acquainted with the mat, this time leading with his face and forearm. He was trapped a second later. But the anxious feeling and clenched muscles caused from the attack were no longer present when she let him wriggle out of the hold. 

He pushed himself into a sitting position after Natasha carefully rolled off of him. She studied him for a minute, noticing he was more relaxed. Offering him a hand, she pulled him up. 

“You’re not as bad as I thought you’d be.” She said.

Tony snorted. Apparently they had different opinions on what getting his ass handed to him repeatedly meant. She continued staring at him, unrelenting. “You could be better though. A lot better.”  
In a moment that he might claim as absurdity and lack of cognizant thought due to what had transpired merely an hour ago, he said softly, “Then teach me.”

He carefully didn’t meet her gaze as she stood silent for the moment. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He walked over to the bench and grabbed his water bottle. Taking a short drink, he almost choked on it when she replied levelly, “Alright. But know that my training is not going to be a walk in the park and will not be questioned.” 

If he wanted trained, she could do that. Imparting some of her skill set to Tony could be very valuable to him. And he had potential. And he was smart. Always outthinking everyone. She could make that work. “Tomorrow morning. 6:30.” And she left without another word. Tony stood in shocked silence. Gathering his thoughts, he nodded to himself. He could do this. He needed to do this. His enemies weren’t playing fair anymore. If they brought the fight to him, he needed to be ready. And with Natasha's help he would be.


End file.
